As I was gearing up for creative activity this morning, I got to thinking about the connection between cleaning and creativity. Cleaning, like walking or showering, is a mindless activity that allows the brain to sift through its contents, making connections between disparate thoughts and ideas. Creativity is no more than the combination of ideas that hereto fore have not been combined, so the pursuit of mindless activities is perfect for enhancing creativity, unless ….

Unless you ignore your creative ideas and continue cleaning, using cleaning as an excuse not to bring those ideas to fruition. Goodness knows, there’s ALWAYS something to clean. You can clean the house from top to bottom, ’til it sparkles like teeth on a toothpaste commercial, and ten minutes after you’re finished, the cat will barf kibble on the rug or a kid will pour a mixing bowl full of cereal and milk to eat and leave the dirty dish staring with accusation at you from the counter. If anything in life can be guaranteed, it’s filth begging to be de-filth-ified.

Other than this particular danger, cleaning is a wonderfully productive way to get your creative on. Although, I have to admit, it’s far more romantic to say you spent your moodling time on a walk along a secluded road than describing how you scrubbed pee off the rim of the toilet.

These thoughts of cleaning and creativity got me to wondering what fabulously famous musicians do for inspiration. Does Trent Reznor ever take a toothbrush & cleanser to the tile grout? Does Dave Matthews ever sort through the garage, scratching his head over how he accumulated all this stuff and what’s this turnip twaddler doing in here, anyway? What mindless activity do they engage in while stuck on a tour bus?

Part of the key to mindless activity is the activity part. Being physically active while the brain isn’t directly engaged gets the synapses firing. Long car trips make me sluggish, not creative. How must it be for bands on buses? How does the blurred landscape not turn their minds to mush? Do band members fight for the opportunity to wash the dishes, make the beds, and clean the bus bathroom? Somehow, I doubt it. What then do they do instead to keep their creativity flowing? Or, do they allow it to go on hiatus while on tour?

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Incidentally, from a feng shui perspective, our bathroom happens to be in the creativity bagua of our house. Is it any wonder my own creativity has been sluggish considering the ferret I pulled out of the shower drain and the mildew ringing the interior of the toilet bowl?

In German, there are two words for cleaning: “aufräumen”, which means “putting everything where it belongs” and includes filing, organizing, throwing away; and “putzen”, which means “cleaning the dirt” and includes scrubbing the floor, washing the windows, and so on. Washing the dishes is something inbetween.
While my wife and I tend to have a reasonably messy houshold (double-income, four cats will do that to you), I’m quite intolerant towards chaos. I can’t take care of my bills without having my home office in order. I can’t work on my photographs without having a clear desk. Cleaning (in the sense of “putting everything in its place”) is a physical as well as emotional exercise, and helps me create a blank canvas around me and in my head.

You make a very good point, Timm, when discussing the difference between cleaning and organizing. Organizing is distinct from cleaning for us, too, although I find that when I go to organize something, I also end up having to do some cleaning, too. If I have to organize boxes that have been sitting in one spot for a while, I’ll typically have to sweep up underneath them or dust them off.

I, too, have a need for order before I can get to work on a project. In fact, I seem to get blocked if my desk is too messy. Plus, I’ve noticed that I can’t make dinner until all the dirty dishes are washed & put away. I hold my mom responsible for that! :) She always made me put ingredients & tools away as I was cooking so that I kept a neat kitchen. My husband, who trained as a professional cook, told me that professional kitchens are not kept neat while the cooks are working. They don’t have time. The cleaning comes after.

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